On Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena, a familiar nemesis paid a visit as the red hot Milwaukee Admirals came to town for the first of a weekend two game set. On Margaritaville Night, The Iowa Wild, playing without several regulars knew it wasn’t going to be a walk on the
beach with a margarita in their hands. It wasn’t as the Wild broke open a 1-1 deadlock in the third period with four goals to defeat Milwaukee 5-2 in front of an announced crowd of 6,810 fans.

The teams played to a scoreless first period with both teams getting a power play and the Admirals outshooting the Wild by a 10-6 margin.
The Wild struck first in the second period. After Graeme Clarke thought he had scored on a wrister between the circles, on the ensuing faceoff, Liam Ohgren buried one from nearly the same spot. Sammy Walker and Hunter Haight picking up the assists on Ohgren’s sixth goal of
the season.

Iowa got into penalty problems halfway through the second as Ryan Sandelin took a penalty at the 8:48 mark and Haight followed with a high sticking penalty 40 seconds later. The Admirals cashed in after the Wild had a golden chance to clear the zone but couldn’t. Jake Lucchini beat Jesper Wallstedt (22 saves) from close in to knot the game at one. With the Wild on a power play late in the second period, Caedan Bankier broke in alone on Admiral goalie Magnus Chrona (21 saves) but was brought down before getting a shot away. Bankier was rewarded
with a penalty shot but could not convert. Iowa turned the tables on shots in the second period, outshooting the Admirals 10-5.

Late in the second period, David Spacek took a holding the stick penalty. Jack Peart followed with a slashing penalty at 1:08 to put the Wild down two players again. Iowa survived the two man disadvantage with Milwaukee taking a penalty with 40 seconds left on the power play as Kieffer Bellows went to the box with a hooking penalty. The Admirals were able to kill off the one minute twenty second Wild power play. 6:33 into the third on a three on two breakout a rinkwide pass by Walker broke Ohgren free and he cashed in with his seventh of the year, second of the night, beating Chrona high in the upper corner to give Iowa a 2-1 lead.

The Wild’s fourth line came up big again as Sandelin threw a pass into the slot that bounced around eventually finding Bradley Marek’s stick. Marek roofed a backhander for his sixth goal of the season with Sandelin and Peart picking up the assists on the goal.
Two minutes later on a rush up the ice Matthew Sop patiently waited for Carson Lambos trailing the play. The pass from Sop was buried by Lambos for his first goal of the season and Sop’s first AHL point. Brendan Gaunce picked up the other assist. The Admirals weren’t going to go away however as Ozzy Weisblatt found a puck in a goal mouth scramble and deposited if for his third goal of the season.
But the tidy bow on the night was a 190 foot laser by Clarke into an empty net with 42.2
seconds left in the game. The unassisted goal was the third of the season for Clarke.

For the game, Iowa outshot Milwaukee by a 26-24 margin. The Admirals went 1-5 on the power play while the Wild went 0-3.

Both teams will be back at it at Wells Fargo Arena on Sunday afternoon at 3 pm.

Three Stars of the Game:

1. 1. Ohgren, two goals
   2. Walker, two assists
   3. Wallstedt, 22 saves

Notes:
Matthew Sop, who was on a tear for the ECHL Iowa Heartlanders with 19 points in 12 games, made his return to Iowa, this time in an Iowa Wild uniform. Sop skated wing on a line with Brendan Gaunce and Luke Toporowski.

With Sop in the lineup on Saturday, the Wild had four skaters in the lineup that have seen time at the ECHL level with Ryan Sandelin, Gavin Hain and Will Zmolek all drawing into the lineup. With the injuries piling up at the NHL level, the trickle down effect has seen the Iowa Wild’s depth tested.

There was some Minnesota hockey flavor in the Admirals lineup. Jake Lucchini who spent time with Iowa and Minnesota last year, has 12 points in 18 games thus far in 2024-25. Kieffer Bellows, son of Minnesota North Stars great Brian Bellows, has seven goals and 12 points in
eighteen contests. Recently acquired Ryder Rolston, son of Minnesota Wild legend Brian Rolston skated on the third line. Mike O’Leary who played 106 games for Iowa the last two seasons, played in his fourth contest since being called up from the Florida Everblades.

Jesper Wallstedt returned to the net for Iowa after not playing either game last weekend in Charlotte. Talk among Minnesota Wild media members is that Minnesota goalie coach Frederic Chabot and Iowa goalie coach Richard Bachman wanted to work with Wallstedt to find his game after a shaky start to the season that has included off games and sporadic starts due to being shuttled to and from Minnesota. Wallstedt seemed much more confident tonight picking up the win.

Brett Bulmer who scored the first goal in Iowa Wild history, played in his first game of the season and scored a goal for the ECHL Indy Fuel. The 32 year old Bulmer had 12 goals in 33 games for Indy last season. Indy is the twelfth team Bulmer has played with in his professional career.